Dust devil causes damage to a restaurant near Taos

The owner of the Medley Restaurant captured surveillance of the powerful whirlwind moments before it ripped off part of the restaurant’s roof.

The owner said no customers were inside, but staff members were preparing to open. No one was hurt and there was no damage inside as a result of the whirlwind.

Jamaica Ramsey works at the business next to the Medley. She said that seeing dust devils in the area are not uncommon.

“They come through over the sage across the way through the pueblo land and they just sort of dissipate, come through. We see them quite often but nothing that large,” Ramsey said.

Although the sign on the Medley attributed the damage to a tornado, KOB 4’s Eddie Garcia said it did not meet the criteria.

However, dust devils can still be destructive, reaching wind speeds of over 70 mph.

“Biggest difference between what we are seeing here and an actual tornado, is that a tornado is circulating all the way up to the cloud,” Garcia said. “It spawned from a severe thunderstorm, and on this day which was Sunday, there were no severe thunderstorm warnings.”

The restaurant owner told KOB 4 that they are waiting for the insurance company to come out and take a look at the damage, but he hopes to be back open sometime next week.